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Community Gardening: A Parsimonious Path to Individual, Community, and Environmental Resilience

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American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to introduce community gardening as a promising method of furthering well-being and resilience on multiple levels: individual, social group, and natural environment. We examine empirical evidence for the benefits of gardening, and we advocate the development and testing of social ecological models of community resilience through examination of the impact of community gardens, especially in urban areas. The definition of community is extended beyond human social ties to include connections with other species and the earth itself, what Berry (1988) has called an Earth community. We discuss the potential contribution of an extensive network of community gardens to easing the global climate change crisis and address the role of community psychologists in community gardening research and policy-oriented action.

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Notes

  1. The Victory Gardens figures did not distinguish between backyard gardens, which were usually tended by people within one family but were sometimes cultivated by multiple families in a neighborhood, and community gardens, which were tended by people from different families and located in a multitude of locations, such as on vacant lots, at schools, and on company property for workers.

  2. The percentage of people living in urban areas in the US is currently about 82% and expected to increase to 90% by 2050, up from 64% in 1950; similarly, world urbanization is expected to increase to nearly 70% by 2050 (United Nations Secretariat 2007).

  3. The first inclusion criterion allowed this review to include research on community gardening, individual gardening, and horticultural therapy, as well as relevant studies of visits to gardens or parks, residential environments, and window views of nature. The third inclusion criterion was necessary to weed out less relevant studies, such as those evaluating gardening as a form of physical activity or horticultural therapy as a way to build range of motion.

  4. According to 100-Mile Diet, “when the average North American sits down to eat, each ingredient has typically traveled at least 1,500 miles.” http://100milediet.org/category/about/.

  5. The American Community Gardening Association has on online directory of community gardens at http://acga.localharvest.org/. However, many small or new community gardens may not be listed here.

  6. The main source for information on starting a community garden is The American Community Gardening Association: http://www.communitygarden.org/.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Manuel Barrera Jr., Michail Fragkias, and Keith G. Tidball for their helpful reviews of earlier drafts of this article.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 871104, 950 S. McAllister Ave., Tempe, AZ, 85287-1104, USA

    Heather A. Okvat & Alex J. Zautra

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Correspondence to Heather A. Okvat.

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Okvat, H.A., Zautra, A.J. Community Gardening: A Parsimonious Path to Individual, Community, and Environmental Resilience. Am J Community Psychol 47, 374–387 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-010-9404-z

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